Five Lessons From Kogi Polls, By Eniola Bello

 

Kogi State is perhaps one of two states in the country that have suffered the worst governance deficit since the take off of this democratic journey in 1999. The state capital, Lokoja, is little better than a 19th century town despite its illustrious history serving as the capital of Northern Nigeria Protectorate, and home to Sir Frederick Lugard after the amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria. It is a testament to the stunted vision of the state leadership since its creation that Lokoja, the confluence town rich in tourism potential, could remain so backward.  

 

Accessing most parts of the state, particularly in the Yoruba and Ebira areas, is a most difficult proposition. Many communities still rely on water wells excavated during the Northern Region administration of Sir Ahmadu Bello. Schools are dilapidated, hospitals decrepit, roads deplorable and some of the major towns are enveloped in darkness for months without electricity supply. In many communities, poverty, despair and despondency are sketched on every face. Issues of good governance degenerate with every new administration despite the campaign promises every election cycle. In the inconclusive governorship election of last Saturday, five things stand out, as it were.

 

1) The candidates: Before the election, the joke among a cross section of the electorate was that the two major political parties – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) – had, in the choice of their candidates, asked the voters to choose between HIV and Ebola. Who between the two candidates – Idris Wada and Abubakar Audu – represented one or the other deadly disease depended on the political physician carrying out the diagnosis. The unflattering metaphor, however, was an indication of how in an ideal situation the voters would have preferred neither one nor the other candidate. The general perception is that Wada has been almost anonymous in the last four years. Handicapped by the nature of his emergence and the political cost of being sponsored by a godfather in his immediate predecessor, Ibrahim Idris, and having to attend to his health, first from an accident and later from an illness, Wada was slow to action.

 

There was little or no evidence of any governance in the state until the desperate attempt in the last one year to show the people some projects in preparation for the election. Wada, even by his own admission, has not done as much as he had wanted. Despite the 13-year interval since he was denied re-election in 2003, the people have not forgotten Audu for his insufferable arrogance, his contempt for his aides, his manifest favouritism for his people, the Igala and unapologetic marginalization of the Yoruba and Ebira, and his self-promotion in hero-worship. Many have however argued that the PDP administrations of both Idris and Wada could not, in 13 years, match Audu’s record of four years in the area of infrastructural development. It was no wonder that Audu could boast, on one of his campaign stumps, that an “arrogant performer” is better than a “humble failure”.

 

2) Money, money, money!:  Two days before the election, Lugard House, Lokoja, where the governor has his office and residence, could pass for a motor park, but was even more chaotic. The expansive compound of the Government House was parked full with all kinds of vehicles –SUVs, cars, vans and buses. Right from the massive entrance gate was a non-stop movement of party supporters, some simply massing at the gate but unable to get clearance, some driving in and some driving out, some in polo shirts and some in face caps emblazoned with the Wada campaign logo. Driving through the gate, vehicles were parked indiscriminately, with the road leading to the office complex completely blocked. Party supporters were sitting on the pavement, standing on the lawn, squatting on every available space, some shouting, some singing, some analyzing, some arguing, but all waiting patiently, unmindful of the scorching sun and humidity of the Lokoja weather. The road leading to a second gate, before yet another gate to the governor’s residence, though narrowed from the mass of people and vehicles, still had enough space for a car to snake its way through. Another crowd of people, though more orderly, also waited patiently for security pass through the final gate.

 

Finally at the governor’s residence is a fairly large reception already filled with another set of people sitting on sofas, so relaxed one would be mistaken to think they had retired to the comfort of their homes. A trolley of cold soft drinks and bottled water was set in the middle of the room and a uniformed domestic staff periodically checked to replenish. In a large but quiet living room the governor sat, reading some files, a few aides with him, the chaos and bedlam outside completely shut out. A top party official walked in to check with the governor if the request for funds had been approved. Of course there was an approval; the delay was from the cash backing. The governor could not wait for election to be over. Then it dawned on you that the flurry of movement in and out of the Government House and the total occupation of the compound by party supporters had to do with getting the funds to make the final push. Perhaps only money could make a man subject himself to such prolonged discomfort and take it in his strides.

 

At Audu’s residence less than half a kilometer from Lugard House was his own crowd, perhaps equally waiting for funds. This democracy is like a bazaar. Money is the name of the game, irrespective of party or candidate. Millions of Naira is shared to party leaders who return to their communities and then summon a meeting of ward leaders. At the end of the meeting, the ward leaders return home with some money, which they share to the supporters of their party, and in some cases the supporters of another party available or pretending to be available for hire, and security agents. Before accreditation, voters get as little as N1000, with some playing the double or triple game, collecting from as many parties as have to share. The party leaders, however, still reserve some money, some kind of special intervention funds to deploy should there be any problem at any time.

 

3) All politics is local: Some politicians have observed that political parties, as we have them in this dispensation, are simply vehicles for seizing power. There are no abiding principles or loyalty to any course the way politicians change membership of one party for another. Many party supporters have taken a leaf from the book of their leaders. Some follow their leaders to another party. Some others break ties with their leaders and decamp to another party. Some are encouraged and supported by their leaders to move to another party. And some while not decamping from their pa rty surreptitiously work for another party with the knowledge of their leaders. All these were at play in the Kogi governorship election for reasons that have less to do with a party or its candidate but more to do with local politics, particularly petty disagreement and quarrel among two or more party leaders in an area.

 

4) Yet a shut down: As in the last general elections, the police restricted movement on the day of the Kogi polls. The whole state was shut down as vehicles that had to use the state as thoroughfare to and from Abuja were forced to park at border communities until the election was over. It is difficult to understand why the police could not ensure security in only one state without having to restrict movement. When are we going to join civilized democracies where voters simply cast their ballots and then go about their businesses? Couldn’t the police have used the Kogi election as a test run to carry out security duties differently for an election?

 

5) Power shift: Since 1999, one or another person of Igala ethnic stock has been elected governor. The clamour for power shift in which a person of either Yoruba or Ebira ethnic stock would be elected governor has generated political heat lately. It was no wonder that power shift was a major campaign issue for both Wada and Audu. The duo promised to do all within their power to ensure a non-Igala is elected governor in 2019.  Will Audu’s sudden but unfortunate death, as he was on his way to being declared winner of the election, bring about power shift quicker than expected?

 

All said and done, the people of Kogi have suffered enough from years of governance deficit. However the inconclusive election is resolved before a winner could be declared, whoever emerges governor at the end of the day should mobilize all available resources to change the fortunes of the state for good. That way, Audu would not have died in vain.

 

About three quarters of my supporters left for the APC and they told me that they were leaving because the PDP could no longer protect their interest and aspirations,